ARC Review: Always and Forever by Harper Bentley

Does wanting to slap the hell out of Brody Kelly make me a bad person? How about setting his hair on fire?

No, I’m not a psycho.

Yes, I AM angry.

See, a year ago, my sweet and sexy firefighter boyfriend and I broke up over something extremely ridiculous. We’d been together since we were sophomores in high school, but that was the end of that. Almost twelve years of that, mind you.

I don’t know why he used our argument as an excuse to break up, but I’m going to find out. I’ve lived in Serenity Point all my life and have connections and I’m not afraid to use them to get to the bottom of things.

What I am afraid of is finding something I won’t be able to handle.

He used to call me his Always and Forever.

But the secrets he’s keeping might tear us apart for good.

♥ my review ♥

There’s something very appealing about this story to me. Maybe it’s the second-chance at love theme or maybe it’s the small-town setting, whatever it is, this was an enjoyable read overall.

Piper and Brody are the quintessential couple that started out as high school sweethearts and remained in love and devoted to each other as the years go by. But then out of the blue, Brody broke up with Piper with no explanation as to why. Brokenhearted and confused Piper spent the better part of the year trying to understand why Brody broke up with her without warning. Just when she’s finally over him, Brody decided he wants Piper back.

Readers get to spend time with these two characters as they try to learn to trust each other again and get to the bottom of why Brody broke up with Piper in the first place. While the main characters have layers of complexity to them, the secondary characters do not. They’re very one-dimensional especially the villains in the story. Even so, these characters and their actions served to move the plot along even though some of it are a bit contrived for my taste.

Still, this was enjoyable. I loved the chemistry between the hero and the heroine. I especially loved the way other the couples are set up for their own book in the series giving us something to look forward to.